Inside Arvada

Inside Arvada's Holiday Season with Jean Gordon

• City of Arvada • Season 1 • Episode 43

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Jean Gordon from Visit Arvada shares everything you need to know about celebrating the holidays in Arvada. From the Old Town tree lighting to Santa Saturdays and markets across the city, we map the best ways to celebrate and support local.

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Visit us at arvadaco.gov/podcast or email us at podcast@arvada.org.

SPEAKER_02:

Hello and welcome to Inside Arvada, the official podcast of the City of Arvada. I'm Sean Starr, one of your hosts. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode with Thanksgiving just right around the corner. Our guest today is Jean Gordon, who will be talking all things holidays here in Arvada. Jean is the director of the Arvada Visitor Center. She's been in that role for the past 13 years, leading the Visitor Center's mission and to assist residents, future residents, and guests to explore Arvada to its fullest. Jean has over 20 years of marketing experience, including previous roles at Denver Pavilions in the Cheyenne Mountain Zoological Society. And as always, I'm joined by my co-host, Katie Patterson. Hi, Katie.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey, Sean. Yeah, it was really fun having Jean on and a little bit different than some of our other episodes lately. And this Saturday is the Old Town tree lighting and uh small business Saturday. And so she talks about that and everything going on in Old Town this weekend. And so that's really exciting. And then there's just lots all over Arvada to kind of ring in the holidays and ring in the new year. That's not what I meant. But yeah, so uh great episode with Gene. Yeah. All right. Hi Gene. Thanks for joining us today. Guys, thank you for having me. Yeah. So tell us just a little bit about yourself and what you do for Visit Orvada.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. My name is Gene Gordon. I'm the director of the Arvada Visitors Center. Visit Arvada. That's what we use when we're out in the world of marketing. But um we are here as the tourism arm for the city. We talk about all the reasons that you need to come check out Arvada. Whether you're looking to live here, whether you're looking for a fun dinner date, or you're just looking for a Sunday stroll opportunity. We want to have that information uh ready for you to consume.

SPEAKER_02:

And so, like a lot of our previous guests, you're not technically a city employee, but you work super closely with the city. Yes. Help everyone understand that relationship between the city of Arvada and the visitor center.

SPEAKER_00:

For sure. So the Arvada Visitor Center is a brick and mortar. We're at 7305 Grand View Avenue in Old Town, Arvada. So we are there as a resource for anything. If you're looking for recommendations, if you're looking to move here, whatever you need, we can help you with that. We are 100% city funded. So the city, we are, I'd call a very close partner with the city and we act as their tourism arm. So where the city is primarily, not always, but primarily connecting with residents and city services, we are here taking all that great information and pushing it out to a wider audience. We want to inform residents, we want to inform people in the metro area. As we were talking before, when we do marketing campaigns, we really go up to Fort Collins down to Colorado Springs along that front range. So if you're in the metro area, we want to be top of mind. That is our goal.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. And help connect the dots here of why the city is interested in having a tourism branch or interest in having people come here.

SPEAKER_00:

That's so true. And and and as many people probably know, maybe some don't, cities run on sales tax. It is probably 25% of how every city service is done. So police and fire and great roads and um clean streets, all of that needs to be funded from somewhere. And tourism is a great revenue generator. When people come in and spend money and have a great time, that helps that tax base. So again, as we were talking before, we have an amazing group of businesses in Arvada. We we're a collection of small businesses. Truthfully, we don't have the super big ones, but we have small to medium-sized, and they need customers. And sometimes residents aren't enough. And so Visit Arvada is really working to keep Arvada top of mind and to keep that funnel, if you will, full. We want people to come check us out, take great pictures, put it on their social media, share with their friends.

SPEAKER_02:

And we're here to we're wearing some ridiculous Christmas sweaters, even though it's only November still, but we're here to be able to do that. But before we move on to that, I wanted to just point out a few clarifications. You're separate from the chamber and also separate from the Old Town Business Improvement District, although all of those organizations are.

SPEAKER_00:

We are all partners, all partners together. And we're we're here supporting our business community. And um, yeah, we work together, but but distinctive lanes for sure. Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and so now to the the big reveal um our lovely Christmas decor here, um, and holiday decor. And so uh tell us a little bit about what folks should be looking forward to this holiday season.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh man, I I will say we are here in November. Um this will this is coming out on the 26th, so three days from now, gotta be an old town. It is the start of the holiday season for Arvada. We light the tree. So the tree is lit. If you have been down here in the past years, it has become quite an event. Thousands of people um all day long. It's small, it's also small business Saturday, so it's a Saturday after Thanksgiving. The tree lighting at 6 p.m. There'll be um a holiday pop-mup market in the square. Skating in the square will be going on. It's a great family-friendly event. And if you need to get in the holiday spirit, I highly suggest you come on down on that Saturday.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I went last year, and um I, you know, I'm not opposed to being like a November 1st holiday person, but some people are like, no, not till after Thanksgiving. So if you're one of those people, this is a good kickoff.

SPEAKER_00:

This is a good kickoff. And I I think everybody it it is, it's kind of the turning of the page. It's we only have three weekends in December. So taking advantage of that first, or I should say that first weekend, which last weekend in November um is key. We launch into then Saturdays with Santa in the square. So that's um the 6th, the 13th, the 20th, and kids can come get their picture taken. There is an awesome holiday market that coincides with that. So if you love our farmers' markets in the sun on Sundays in the summer, it is that same group that puts this on. So high quality vendors, we're always searching for those unique gifts. So if you are one of those that just don't want something normal, come to that holiday pop-up market every Saturday in December. Um, and I also wanted to mention Schoolhouse Kitchen and Libations in Old Town has breakfast with Santa every Saturday. So if you don't want to stand in line for that photo and you want a warm breakfast with Santa, head to schoolhouse.

SPEAKER_01:

That's fun. I didn't know about that one. And then you have kind of a more robust holiday guide too. That's we do, we do.

SPEAKER_00:

And so um head to visitarvata.org. Um, we will probably have between 50 and 75 events um in a six-week time frame. Everything from wreath making to other holiday pop-up markets where you can find Sano, where you can get your dog's picture taken with Santa. Everything that's coming through is so dang fun. Um so it's our holiday guide, and we will also have a gift guide as part of that too. So if you're looking for some unique gifts, we're gonna highlight a few things that are unique to Arvada and support our local economy.

SPEAKER_01:

Very cool. And that goes outside of Old Town, too. Yeah, yeah. Just to find that we kind of focus on Old Town. There's tons happening in Old Town. It is our down.

SPEAKER_00:

It is our downtown, yeah. Right? It is our downtown. It does have the most collection of businesses. But if you haven't been to Arvada, we we have much more than just Old Town. There's definitely shopping and dining on our west side. Um, our outdoor space is beautiful, but when we're talking collection of businesses, you're right.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. The theme of your holiday guide this year is uh this year holiday here. And it's all about encouraging folks to spend local. And kind of like we talked about the the start of the interview is the importance of spending local. You know, people are gonna be buying gifts probably regardless, right? And it's so easy to maybe go online, go on Amazon, and just have it delivered back to your house. But the other option is kind of going to those brick and mortar places and investing right here in the community that you either live, work, or visit in here in the world.

SPEAKER_00:

And it it thank you for saying that. It is um so true. And I think this year has been challenging in a lot of ways for all of us, where we may be spending differently. We are looking at what's coming in and what's going out, and maybe what 2026 might have in store for us. But I'm here just to reiterate um if you love a business in Arvada, um, support it this holiday season. I can't uh stress enough how critical the holiday season is for a lot of these businesses. You see the owners behind the counters working. They are taking on shifts right now, they are doing certain things to cut costs where they can, but having an amazing holiday season, I know would serve a lot of them well going in to 2026, where right, after the holidays, nobody's out. We've drank too much, we've ate too much, we've spent too much. So kind of ending the year with a bang um would be an amazing thing. So shopping small, shopping local, it does really matter.

SPEAKER_02:

And that gift guide will come in handy for someone like me who I'm like, I don't know what to get out of anyone. But those are imagine some great ideas.

SPEAKER_01:

Sometimes it's just like to walk in a shop and be like, I don't know what to get someone, or maybe you don't want to spend a ton of money, but you can just kind of walk around and be like, oh, like this kind of funky plus holder or whatever, you know, would be a good something someone would actually put on their windowsill and keep for a long time.

SPEAKER_00:

And it is, you know, part of it for me too. We we were also mentioning how beautiful our downtown looks, how old town is all lit up. There's something about for sure going on Amazon and clicking, but coming down here, parking, walking, being under the lights, connecting with somebody in a boutique or in a shop, getting the experience of the gift, right? Um and that whole thing. I I kind of enjoy that as well. And yeah. So I I hope, I hope people will will do more of that this year. So if you can't spend, spend local.

SPEAKER_02:

Don't put it off because I always am like, oh no, it's already like Christmas Eve or Christmas Eve Eve, and like you know after Thanksgiving, it's time to go shopping. Because like you said, it's only three weeks after.

SPEAKER_00:

It is so it's kind of like November's long and then December's a little a little tighter. Um I have a lot of out-of-state relatives, so I am forced to shop early if I need to ship those. That's right. Or else I'm just paying all the money in shipping.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, well, what else haven't we covered? What else should we we talk about that folks should know this this holiday season or about the visitor center?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, the thing that I would like to stress is we are here as a resource. So if you don't know we're here, visit Arvada.org. We have everything on our website from where to eat. This is year-round, holidays or not, but we talk about our hotels, we talk about our outdoor space, we talk about the history of Arvada. Arvada is a very, very cool community. And one side note story: when I um started my position and was getting to know all the players in Arvada, I use the the S-word, suburb. We are a suburb. And I forget who cut me off and said, Gene. Gene, we we don't we're the city of Arvada. Duly noted. You know, very proud. We and we are a true are we a suburb? Yes, we're you know, smaller than the bigger metro of Denver. But people are very proud of their Arvada roots and what Arvada started with and what we are now. So I'm uh I will never use that S-word in anything I read about Arvada.

SPEAKER_01:

We are unique to Denver. We are unique to Denver.

SPEAKER_00:

So saying the website and the brick and mortar in Old Town as a resource. Um, I just want to remind people too, beyond Old Town, can I mention a couple of things that are happening? So if you aren't familiar, um the Colorado Tap House on the Rollston Creek Trail, have you guys been there? Yeah, yeah. An amazing place if you've not been. They are just doing an amazing job with year-round events. So, Colorado Tap House, they're doing a huge holiday market on the 7th. Ector's Greenhouse, one of my favorite places. I think I just saw on their website 15 holiday events. So they're doing some wreath making, center, centerpiece making. Um, they do have Santa Paws. So if you have a dog and you love that holiday photo, this will all be in the holiday guide. I'm simply just mentioning things. Um, Apex, our awesome partners, our park and rec district. They're doing letters to Santa. They have ice skating, they have cookie making. Um, don't forget about the indoor water park. You know, as we head into December and you want to do some shopping and need to dump the kids off somewhere, um, Apex could be a good fit the bill there. Have you guys been out to Freedom Street Social? Yep, definitely. There you go. That's our Vada's only food hall. About 10, I think they're about 10 to 12 food concepts right now. They're having tons of live music in December, visits from Santa. Um, and they're also really promoting. I think they upgraded, I haven't been there in a minute, Sean, um, their TVs. So every a great place to watch the game.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So if you're done shopping and you're into hanging out on Sundays, remember Freedom Street Social. And then one of my personal favorites, the Arvada Beer Garden on Rolston. Have you guys been to the beer garden? Yeah. Jet check. Okay. They're doing, they're doing I'd be curious to see how they do it in the colder weather, too. How it shuts down and the fire pits, though. So I'm such a fan of that place. On the 21st of December, they're doing breakfast with Santa. So I think that is a register. Uh again, we'll get all these on the holiday guide, but plenty to do here in our community.

SPEAKER_02:

It was funny. I was looking back at um, we're gonna do trivia here. We're gonna surprise you a little bit. Oh no. We have some Arvada history books, and I was trying to find some history of Christmas celebrations in Arvada, and it used to be just Christmas Eve. There was uh Santa would come and the tree lighting and the fire department would hand out. And it was just Christmas Eve. And now we're, you know, a month.

SPEAKER_00:

We've got to be a good thing. We are launching this. And and it is so cool. Um I one of the favorites too, is December 8th. I'm just gonna say that because it will sell out. Have you guys ever done Old Town's cider egg and eggnog competition?

SPEAKER_02:

I have not, no. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's you get a little taster, you have to uh spend it's alcohol or non-alcoholic, but they do the best of. And these businesses take it pretty, pretty darn seriously. So that's on the 8th of December if you're interested in that. But Old Town will definitely have, like we said, Saturdays with Santa in the market. But so many businesses are stuck. I mean, that's really what has made it so robust. Businesses are just left, right, and center. They want you in there and they want you around town. So that's very cool for us to be able to promote not the what our organization's doing, but what our businesses are doing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_02:

And if you're into the hard cider or eggnog, you can carry it with you. Oh, great segment. Great segment. Shop away.

SPEAKER_00:

If you haven't heard about the drinking zones, I think we need a new name. If they were calling it D designate DDZ. I'm like, we can do better than that.

SPEAKER_01:

It doesn't be the official title. Yeah, we need something a little more fun.

SPEAKER_00:

But if you haven't heard, um, you can now walk, sip, stroll. You can alcohol non at whatever you want. Um, but get a drink from your favorite business. And I'd have to believe we're gonna see some really fun holiday festive cocktails come out. And you can walk around Old Town. So you have to stay within the pedestrian zone. Which what do you guys think? It's like 80% of Old Town. It's a good chunk of it. If you buy a drink from a business not in the designated zone, you'll see the signage. It will be very clear to you. You simply are asked to take the drink to the zone, pop it open, and enjoy it. Um but we were mentioning too, if you have little ones and family out for dinner, it's hard to sit at a table. Now the kids are getting restless. You can ask that to go and walk around, stroll under the beautiful light. So it's it's just one more reason um for you to come check out Old Town if you want to explore a little more and still enjoy.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. All right. Um like I said, we're gonna surprise you with some trivia here. What if I get it wrong?

SPEAKER_01:

I'll be so serious. Okay. I'll play too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So uh you know, we talked a lot about the Old Town Christmas tree and the lighting, and it's been becoming like such a great event each year. Um as many people know, the previous tree was blown over in December of 2021. Like 80 mile-an-hour winds knocked it down. And it was replaced, I think, the following summer in July 22. Um shout out to our parks team and our forester team to get that back up and might I say better tree. Yeah. Speaking of the tree, what kind of tree is it?

SPEAKER_01:

What? Like an evergreen?

SPEAKER_02:

Douglas fir. It's our state tree.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh.

SPEAKER_02:

Blue spruce. Blue spruce.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. I didn't remember that. Did it say where that tree was sourced from?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh I think it came from Colorado Springs. Okay. Yeah. And uh I was actually talking to Ian McDonald, our city forester. He's been on the show a couple times actually. It just how complicated it is to get a tree that size shipped up here and then essentially planted. You know, when you plant trees, you plant baby trees for a reason. You don't know what to do. It was full size. Yeah. Full size. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So I think there's a time lapse of them getting it put up, too. So we can link to that.

SPEAKER_00:

I think we did a photo up around. I mean, I think we had media coverage of that and such. Yeah. Um, that was crazy when that other tree went down. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02:

I didn't realize 80 mile-an-hour winds. That's amazing. It was a horror. All right. Question number two where was Arvada's original community holiday tree located? I'll give you some multiple choice here. City Hall, the Ralston Central Park, or McAlvoy House, where Arvada Historical Society is located right next door.

SPEAKER_01:

God, I'm going with Maclevoy. I was going to say C.

SPEAKER_02:

That's correct. Yeah. So right where they have their patio.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. And so you're I know.

SPEAKER_02:

They're right next door to you on Grand Street there, the McAlvoy House. Um it was belonged to philanthropist Clemnancy McIlvoy, who was uh often seen working out in her garden there out front, and that tree there, there was a blue spruce in her garden that became like the unofficial or the official community Christmas tree. Um a little bit more on I think Clemnancy, I think I'm pronouncing that correct. She donated the land north of her house there to become Arvada's first park. That's why it's called McIlvoy Park.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So celebrated 100 years of McAlvoy Park, I think like five years ago or something like that.

SPEAKER_00:

Such a great park. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

All right. Final question here. Um we also do uh menorah lighting there in Old Town each year. Um how many candles are on a menorah?

SPEAKER_01:

Nine, right?

SPEAKER_02:

That's correct. You got it.

SPEAKER_01:

Look at you guys. There you go.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep. There's uh eight days, and then there's the one helper candle to light the old ones each time.

SPEAKER_01:

So I guess that's kind of a trick, but I don't know, I just knew that. Yeah. You can click. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And so not exactly sure when exactly that tradition began, but um, yeah, you know, we want to celebrate all different sorts of uh cultures and um holidays, and so um that'll be happening uh in Hanukkah this year as well in Old Tony. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

And I think we usually too the city does the um lighting of the water tower, reflecting the different things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

The only reason I'm looking at you funny is the lighting is uh not working right now. Oh no. But hopefully by the time we get to um the holiday season, you know. It will get us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

They're hoping to have a fixed mechanism. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

That's kind of a cool application.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, we do like different, you know, and Kwanzaa.

SPEAKER_00:

We have like this graphic we put in the HollyGat of like when when we light, yeah. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Bonus question. Our uh Forestry Tree puts wreaths up there at the top of the water tower each year, too. How many wreaths do we put up there?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, geez. Let's call it 10.

SPEAKER_02:

Not that many.

SPEAKER_00:

Eight. Three.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh I was also gonna do three. Yeah, but like four felt small. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

We also have a video uh kind of behind the scenes look at getting those reads up there. There's a bucket truck that and then a rope and pulley system, and our producer Tomas did a great job with that a few years ago, so we'll share that out as well. Very cool. Yeah. All right. That wraps it up. Awesome. Gene, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you guys. It was fun.

SPEAKER_01:

As a reminder, we love to hear from our listeners. You can text us with the link at the top of the show notes or send us an email at podcast at arvata.org. Any questions you have for Gene or episode ideas as we kind of wrap up our 2025 um year. We'd love any ideas going into the next year. Um and then what's coming up? Not a whole lot this time of year, but we do have a community um open house style meeting about the West 72nd Avenue widening project. Um so phase three of that project has been on the project's been on pause, but starting back up um in early 2026. Um, and this part is from Kipling to Oak. And uh they're building a new temporary detour road, and we're gonna have an open house on Thursday, December 4th from 5 to 7 p.m. at Oberon Middle School. And you can stop by anytime in that window to hear more about um project updates and what's coming up next year.

SPEAKER_02:

Exciting that that project is uh moving along to the next phase. Uh we also have Trees Across Arvada going on right now. These are low-cost, low-water trees that you can purchase now, and then we pick them up in the spring and plant them and uh provide more shade for your property. You can order your trees now online by visiting our Trees Across Arvada webpage, and we'll link to that in the show notes. And be sure you don't delay though, because orders are due here soon by December 5th. Thank you again to our guest today, Gene Gordon. Be sure to catch our next and final episode of 2025 with Chris Gray, talking all things utility rates and fees. And as always, today's podcast was recorded and edited by Arvada Media Services. Today's fun fact is that Americans consume an average of 135 million gallons of eggnog each year.

SPEAKER_01:

Whoa!